Jack O'Lantern
Jack O'Lantern was the antagonist in the Halloween special, Billy & Mandy's Jacked-Up Halloween. History Origin According to Grim, Jack was a prankster in medieval Endsville, which is presumed to be between the 1500-1600s. He was pleasant, but he loved to pull pranks on the townspeople (sawing chair legs, changing road signs, "kick me" signs, etc). He is also shown to have (presumably) invented a couple pranks and gags too (such as chattery teeth). The problem with his pranking was that he never knew when to stop, sometimes pulling several pranks in a row on the same person, and occasionally pulling pranks that resulted in someone getting hurt. Jack was obsessed with inventing new tricks to pull on the people, staying up creating various prank devices, then "laughing himself to sleep" when he was finally done. The townspeople grew sick of Jack's behavior, and all met together to "teach Jack a lesson once and for all". They accomplished this by sending their humorless queen a prank gift and framing Jack for it, knowing that The Queen would punish him. Furious, she immediately sent a knight to his house to execute Jack for the harmless prank. When Grim came to reap his soul, the prankster refused to go. Jack managed to steal Grim's scythe (by tickling him into dropping it), and struck a deal with him; he would return the scythe in exchange for immortality, so he could keep playing pranks forever. Grim had no choice but to grant Jack his request and made Jack immortal. Unfortunately for Jack, this enraged Grim (who doesn't like being tricked) and so he decided that Jack would not show his face around town again - ever. And he sliced off Jack's head, resulting in him needing to replace it with a pumpkin, causing him to be shunned by society and forcing him to only be able to play his pranks on Halloween, when he could fit in with the ghouls and costumed people. This slowly caused him to become bitter towards Endsville and society, but most of all, towards Grim. Billy & Mandy's Jacked Up Halloween Before he managed to start his yearly pranks in Billy & Mandy's Jacked-Up Halloween, Billy arrived at his door with Grim's scythe. After discovering that the scythe belonged to the Grim Reaper, he tricked Billy by using a feather to tickle him, stole the scythe, and then used it to possess pumpkins with spirits and cause chaos and destruction to all of Endsville with the goal of taking over the universe and making it Halloween every day, much to Billy's delight. Eventually, Jack began to feel something was missing, and decided to complete his revenge, he needed to chop off Grim's head, as "any head cut off with the scythe stays off forever." Billy enlists the help of Mandy to save Grim, and Mandy sets up several pranks, only for them to discover Jack was aware of what was going on the whole time. However, Irwin accidentally defeated him by running into all of the pranks Mandy set up, causing his pumpkin minions to laugh themselves to death (literally). After Jack was defeated, Grim sent him to the underworld. There, he was beaten up by many humorless demons for pulling a prank on them, and it is heavily implied that his pumpkin head was smashed. Other Appearances Jack also makes an appearance in the video game, and was mentioned during the trial scene in Billy and Mandy's Big Boogey Adventure. Appearance Before Decapitation With a head, Jack had orange hair that went past his ears, green eyes (only evident in one shot), a long nose that was slightly red at the end, and a pair of buck teeth. He dons a blue hat with a purple stripe and red feather, a white collared tunic, a brown belt with a silver buckle, blue tights, and a pair of curled tip shoes. He also had a funny walk, in which he lifted his legs high and wobbled side to side. After Decapitation The only noticable difference between his current appearance and his previous appearance is that he now dons a pumpkin head. He also has a large tooth on the bottom of his mouth carved in, but, when enraged, this changes into the classical Jack-o’-Lantern mouth, with ’fangs’ made by carving jagged lines. His eyes (and sometimes mouth) are lit up, as most jack-o-lanterns are, and he often appears to be glaring. His strange walk is no longer present. Notes * The fact the his strange, wobbly walk is absent after he is decapitated suggests that his walk may have had to do with his personality, and not because of any physical limitations. * Interestingly, in the video game when fighting him in story mode, his body is either covered with or replaced by what appear to be pumpkin vines. It is unknown if this is the case in the cartoon, as in the show his body is completely covered in clothing. This skin is available as an alternate costume when playing as Jack. Personality Jack is a trickster, playing pranks and tricks for amusement. He was also shown using it to get what he wanted, such as when he tricked Grim into giving him immortality, although this is the only time he is known to use his trickery for anything other than playing pranks before the events in the special. Before Decapitation Unlike Boogey, who plays pranks to be cruel, he played pranks for humor, and does not seem to have malicious intentions towards his victims before he is decapitated. He does not even seem to realize that the villagers in Endsville are sick of his tricks, and acts friendly towards those he pranks while he still has his head. The fact Grim described past Jack as "a pleasant guy" seems to confirm this. It is stated that Jack didn't know when to stop playing pranks, and obsessed over playing tricks on others, which is what resulted in the townspeople getting sick of him. After Decapitation After being decapitated by Grim, Jack became bitter, and holed himself up in his house, only coming out on Halloween to play pranks, because he feels he can't go out the rest of the year because he is a "pumpkin headed freak." He has retained his sense of humor despite his bitter attitude, but his tricks are more mean-spirited, being described as "terrible tricks" by Grim, with one of the examples being him putting a whoopie cushion under a coffin being lowered at a funeral. He is also shown to have enjoyed making head puns before trying to cut of Grim's head. He also pranks Billy when they meet, presumably because he is annoyed by him. During this prank, he takes no visible humor from the action, suggesting that he only played that one to try and get Billy out of the way, or rather because he was annoyed with the child, stating he had "more important" tricks to pull. Additionally, he seeks revenge on Endsville after he has a pumpkin head because of his isolation, as he partially blames the residents for not understanding him, suggesting his attitude changed as a result of his isolation. He also, of course, blames Grim for chopping off his head. The only thing that Jack truly fears is the knight that was sent by The Queen to kill him as he reacted with great terror when Irwin was dressed like the knight in Billy & Mandy's Jacked-Up Halloween, despite being immortal. Abilities * Jack is a clever trickster, and as such, is very good at playing pranks, and using his pranks to get what he wants, such as tricking Grim into giving him immortality (although, judging from the rest of the series, Grim isn't very hard to trick). Even Grim says he "underestimated his power" when Jack used his feather to tickle him. **He also invented many different gags and tricks. *When he steals Grim's scythe from Billy, he seems to know exactly how to use it, and uses it to summon the spirits of the dead to create a pumpkin army. However, other episodes have hinted that anyone with the scythe can easily use it. *Because he was made immortal, he is able to survive normally fatal wounds, such as his head being chopped off. He appears to have not aged since his decapitation, as well, likely as a side effect of his immortality. *It also seems he was able to make his pumpkin function like a regular head through unknown means. Relationships Grim Ever since Grim cut Jack's head off, Jack has loathed Grim and desired revenge against him. Grim shares the same hatred towards Jack for tricking him into granting Jack immortality, despite earlier saying that Jack "was a pleasant guy" before his head being chopped off. Billy Although initially annoyed with him, Jack begins to develop a liking for him after Billy asks him to go trick-or-treating with him, and allows Billy to accompany him while he seeks revenge on Endsville. However, later it is shown to be highly unlikely to be a genuine friendship, as Jack gently mocks him and Mandy for trying to "out-trick old Jack." Billy regards Jack as "fun" and enjoys spending time with him...until he realizes Jack is going to cut Grim's head off, at which point he realizes Jack must be stopped. After Jack is defeated, he seems worried about Jack's fate. Endsville When Jack had a head, he was blissfully unaware that the villagers were growing sick of him, and often pranked the other villagers. The fact Grim states Jack "was a pleasant guy" suggests he was quite friendly. After being decapitated, Jack begins to grow resentful towards the residents of Endsville, whom he partially blames for his inability to leave his house, since they are the ones who often shun him and fail to understand him. When he begins his revenge, his first target is Endsville and the residents living within. Trivia *Jack's story is loosely based on legends of Stingy Jack, where a town drunk named Jack uses tricks to force the Devil to promise never to take his soul to Hell, but because Jack is unable to go to Heaven because of his deeds, this means he is stuck between Heaven and Hell, with nothing but an ember inside a hollowed turnip (turnips were originally used to make jack-o-lanterns) to guide his way. People are said to carve jack-o-lanterns so Jack will leave them alone. **This is similar to how Jack made Grim give him eternal life, only to be stuck with a pumpkin head and unable to interact with others. **Furthermore, both characters used trickery and made a deal to get what they wanted. Stingy Jack got the Devil to never take him to Hell by trapping him and only letting him go after he promised to never take his soul. Jack O'Lantern took Grim's scythe and refused to give it back until Grim granted him eternal life. ** Along with the previously mentioned similarities, they both are named Jack and both are associated with jack-o-lanterns. * When Grim granted Jack immortality through a handshake, the scene visually resembled most animated depictions of a joy buzzer prank being used, probably as a reference to Jack's prankster nature. * According to his bio in the Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy video game, his candle in his pumpkin head has to replaced every 4 hours. * In Billy & Mandy's Jacked-Up Halloween, Jack claims that if Grim's head is cut off with Grim's scythe that it could never be put back on. But in The Incredible Shrinking Mandy, Billy accidentally cuts of Grim's head and Grim simply attached it back on. Judging by the fact Grim was still afraid of his head being cut off, it's possible the user of the scythe has to intentionally cut the victim's head off in order for it to work. * There was a rumor that Jack O'Lantern would appear in the cancelled Underfist series, probably because of a similar looking monster in Underfist: Halloween Bash. ** It also may have been due to similarities between the Pumpkin monsters from Billy and Mandy's Jacked Up Halloween and the pumpkin tanks from Underfist Goofs * Despite having a pumpkin for a head, he still has teeth in two shots,, * His feather is missing in several shots, even when he has not taken it off of his hat. However, in some shots he has a feather in his hat while using the feather. ** It is possible he actually has more than one feather, but this is uncertain. Gallery See also *Billy and Mandy's Jacked-Up Halloween *Harum Scarum es:Jack Linterna category:Characters Category:Humans Category:Villains Category:Males Category:Pranksters Category:Supernatural beings Category:Antagonists Category:Halloween